Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Unknown Heroes Pt. 21: Jody Reed

I first started my obsession with the Red Sox in 1991, so a lot of the players from that team are remembered fondly. Jody Reed is just another one of those players, joining Carlos Quintana, Greg Harris, and Tony Pena as underrated favorites of mine.

Jody Reed came up to Boston for good in 1988 and played shortstop down the stretch for the AL East champs. He was a short player, only 5'9" and he did not have much power, but he was a pesky little sparkplug for the team who was tough to strike out. He became the team's No. 2 hitter for much of his career with the Red Sox and provided mostly solid defense in the middle infield.

Reed was a solid hitter, hitting .280/.358/.372 for his Red Sox career which included an awful 1992 season. In general, he was a little better than that. Reed finished third in the Rookie of the Year vote in 1988 and had his best season in 1990, when he tied for the league lead with 45 doubles.

As mentioned, Reed had a bad 1992 and he was left unprotected in the expansion draft where he was selected by the Colorado Rockies and was immediately traded to the Dodgers. Reed was one of many longtime Red Sox who was let go after the 1992 season, which was kind of devastating for a young fan like myself.

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